AUBURN Speedsters.com

Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Co.
Parts Inventoried

After 50 years Glenn Prays collection of NOS Parts at his Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Co. has finally been sorted and inventoried. Glenn bought the "Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Co." from Dallas Winslow in 1960 with the intention of having an endless supply of parts for his Auburn and Cord restoration business. Mr. Winslow had purchased the Auburn Automobile Company in 1937, which included Cord and Duesenberg. Glenn Pray's purchase of the company is a story in its self. The book; "Glenn Pray - The Man Who Brought Legends to Life" tells it best.

When Glenn Pray bought the ACD Company he not only purchased an estimated 600,000 - 700,000 pounds of original parts he also acquired the rights to three of the most recognized names in the world of Collector Cars; Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg. Tons of small parts were wrapped and packed into thousands of beer boxes. The boxed parts, sheet metal and trim were shipped from Auburn, Indiana to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Pray had set up a building (a former Pickle Factory) in Broken Arrow to start his newly acquired company.

Parts were sold and used as needed for restorations, but the spare time and manpower required to actually inventory everything that had been purchased was never available. Glenn's long time friend, Felix De Geyter, was hired in 1963 as the parts manager. When Felix left in 1966 he estimated there were still 400-500 boxes that had never been sorted. By then Glenn had started building the Second Generation Cords and his Auburn 866 Speedster was already in the planning stages. Again, the time needed to inventory parts wasn't there.

At Glenn's 50th Anniversary Celebration, held in May 2010 at the Factory, renowned Duesenberg Historian - Randy Ema and Doug Pray (Glenn's son) started kicking around the idea of taking inventory of those last 400-500 cases and putting EVERYTHING in shelves with a part number. Again, Felix De Geyter's services were requested. So in November 2010 the task was started with help from family and MANY volunteers. A week was the original estimate of time needed, but it proved to be a much bigger job. After the fifth week approximately 3300 parts were sorted with 2600 of them being identified. The Factory's inventory was then loaded into the computer. I was told that Glenn paid close attention to the whole operation, at times bringing a few things back into the Factory that had found their way to the dumpster. 50 years later, Glenn estimates he still has a remaining 300,000 pounds of parts available.

Inventory sheets are available for; Auburn (1928-1930), Auburn (1931-1933), Auburn (1934-1936), Cord L-29 and Cord 810 / 812. Not much was discovered for the Glenn Pray Second Generation Auburns and Cords from what I have been told. For Parts, you can contact Felix De Geyter. email: felixdegeyter@yahoo.com. Call The Factory at 918-251-3161 or 918-812-4070. Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Company, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
 

As I was writing this article I received the Sad News that Glenn Pray, at the age of 85, had passed away in his sleep the morning of March 23, 2011. I am fortunate to have had the honor of meeting Glenn Pray and Visiting his Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Co. Glenn Pray will be missed.